The presidential official expressed hope that Pelosi would continue her trip as planned. Her visit to South Korea would be welcomed, he said…reports Asian Lite News
South Korea has called for dialogue amid concerns about the growing tensions between China and the US over Taiwan.
The government in Seoul wants to remain in close contact with all countries involved, a representative for the presidential office said on Wednesday, according to public broadcaster KBS, referring to the visit by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
The basis for this, he said, was the need to maintain “peace and stability in the region through dialogue and cooperation.”
South Korea is Pelosi’s next stop on her Asia trip. Her visit to Taiwan had triggered sharp warnings from China, which considers the self-governing island republic part of its territory and strictly rejects official contacts by other countries with Taipei, dpa news agency reported.
Pelosi
South Korea is a close ally of the US.
The presidential official expressed hope that Pelosi would continue her trip as planned. Her visit to South Korea would be welcomed, he said.
On Thursday, Pelosi plans to meet Parliament Speaker Kim Jin Pyo in the South Korean capital Seoul. A meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol was not planned.
Taiwan is facing mounting pressure from China, which considers the democratically governed island its own territory…reports Asian Lite News
Two days after reports arrived that Britain’s House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee is planning a visit to Taiwan probably in November or early December this year, China’s UK ambassador Zheng Zeguang vowed ‘severe consequences’ if British lawmakers visit Taiwan.
Zheng added that the British lawmakers visit to Taiwan would interfere in China’s internal affairs and would lead to severe consequences in China-UK relations.
“We call on the UK side to abide by the Sino-UK joint communique and not to underestimate the extreme sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, and not to follow the U.S.’s footsteps,” the Guardian quoted Zheng as saying.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is facing mounting pressure from China, which considers the democratically governed island its own territory.
Also, the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrival has already increased tensions in the Chinese-claimed self-ruled island.
The following comment from China arrived as both UK leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak had demonstrated their tough stance on China as they race to replace Boris Johnson as Britain’s next prime minister.
Zheng, whike responding to remarks about China by Sunak and Trus, urged British politicians to “be realistic” about the fundamentals of bilateral relations.
China summons US envoy Nicholas Burns to lodge “strong protests” over Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy claimed by Beijing as its own…reports Asian Lite News
An enraged China summoned US envoy Nicholas Burns late on Tuesday night to lodge “strong protests” over Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy claimed by Beijing as its own.
Burns was summoned to the Chinese foreign ministry by vice foreign minister Xie Feng soon after Pelosi’s flight landed in Taipei and as tension mounted between Beijing and Washington over the visit.
Official news agency, Xinhua, announced that Burns was summoned on Wednesday morning.
The Biden administration has spent months building an economic and diplomatic strategy in Asia to counter China. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan could now leave allies to wonder what damage had been done to the president’s united front. https://t.co/rYOysi2IF7
Burns was “urgently summoned” even as the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a series of joint military operations around Taiwan from Tuesday night, the largest show of Chinese military might in recent years.
The PLA started joint training exercises in the maritime areas off the northern, southwestern and southeastern coasts of the island and their air space, conduct long-range live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait and conventional missile tests in the waters off the eastern coast of the island, the Chinese defence ministry announced late on Tuesday, voicing its strong opposition against Pelosi’s visit.
At the foreign ministry, minister Xie added to China’s coordinated response.
“Noting that Pelosi risks universal condemnation to deliberately provoke and play with fire, Xie said that this is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques,” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said in a report early on Wednesday.
“The move is extremely egregious in nature and the consequences are extremely serious. China will not sit idly by,” Xie noted.
“It (the US) deleted the key expressions such as Taiwan is part of China from the US State Department website, put Taiwan in its so-called ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’, openly upgraded its ties with Taiwan and increased arms sales to the region and supported separatist activities for ‘Taiwan independence’,” Xie said.
Using strong rhetoric, Xie said: “Taiwan is China’s Taiwan, and Taiwan will eventually return to the embrace of the motherland. Chinese people are not afraid of ghosts, pressure and the evil”.
Beijing on Wednesday announced a number of economic and trade measures against Taiwan including the suspension of importing citrus fruits, chilled white striped hairtail – a fish that’s widely popular in China — and frozen horse mackerel from Taiwan starting August 3, China’s customs said on Wednesday.
Pelosi addresses Taiwan parliament
Pelosi addressed Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday and met with its president as well as human rights activists during a visit to the island that has infuriated Beijing.
China condemned the highest-level U.S. visit to Taiwan in 25 years as a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, responding with a flurry of military exercises, summoning the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, and announcing the suspension of several agricultural imports from Taiwan.
Pelosi arrived in Taipei late on Tuesday on an unannounced but closely watched trip, saying that it shows unwavering U.S. commitment to the self-ruled island that Beijing says is part of China.
On Wednesday, Pelosi thanked President Tsai Ing-wen for her leadership, called for increased inter-parliamentary cooperation.
“We commend Taiwan for being one of the freest societies in the world,” Pelosi told Taiwan’s parliament.
She also said new U.S. legislation aimed at strengthening the American chip industry to compete with China “offers greater opportunity for US-Taiwan economic cooperation.”
While Pelosi is not the first House Speaker to go to Taiwan – Newt Gingrich visited in 1997 – her visit comes as relations between Beijing and Washington have deteriorated sharply, and with China a much more powerful economic, military and geopolitical force than it was a quarter century ago.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has never renounced using force to bring it under its control. The United States warned China against using the visit as a pretext for military action against Taiwan.
Early on Wednesday, China’s customs department announced a suspension of imports of citrus fruits, chilled white striped hairtail and frozen horse mackerel from Taiwan, while its commerce ministry suspended export of natural sand to Taiwan.
A long-time China critic, especially on human rights, Pelosi was set to meet later on Wednesday with a former Tiananman activist, a Hong Kong bookseller who had been detained by China and a Taiwanese activist recently released by China, people familiar with the matter said.
Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, China’s military announced joint air and sea drills near Taiwan and test launches of conventional missiles in the sea east of Taiwan, with Chinese state news agency Xinhua describing live-fire drills and other exercises around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday.
China’s foreign ministry said Pelosi’s visit seriously damages peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, “has a severe impact on the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Before Pelosi’s arrival on Tuesday, Chinese warplanes buzzed the line dividing the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese military said it was on high alert and will launch “targeted military operations” in response to Pelosi’s visit.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday after Pelosi’s arrival that the United States “is not going to be intimidated” by China’s threats or bellicose rhetoric and that there is no reason her visit should precipitate a crisis or conflict.
“We will continue to support Taiwan, defend a free and open Indo-Pacific and seek to maintain communication with Beijing,” Kirby told a later White House briefing, adding that the United States “will not engage in sabre-rattling.”
Kirby said China might engage in “economic coercion” toward Taiwan, adding that the impact on American-Chinese relations will depend on Beijing’s actions in the coming days and weeks.
The United States has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by American law to provide it with the means to defend itself. China views visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the pro-independence camp on the island. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island’s future.
China – which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province which will one day reunite with it – has previously warned that its armed forces “will not stand idly by”…reports Asian Lite News
Within minutes of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landing in Taiwan on Tuesday night, China said it would immediately begin “a series of joint military operations around the island”, including using long-range live ammunition in the Taiwan Strait, a media report said.
An announcement from the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said beginning Tuesday night a series of exercises would be held on the sea and in the air surrounding Taiwan, the self-governed island that China says is its sovereign territory, CNN reported.
“This action is a solemn deterrent against the recent major escalation of the negative actions of the United States on the Taiwan issue, and a serious warning to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces seeking ‘independence’,” Col. Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement.
The Eastern Theater is one of the five joint commands of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with jurisdiction over China’s eastern coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, which sit opposite and above Taiwan.
China’s Defence Ministry said the PLA was “on high alert and will launch a series of targeted military operations to counteract the situation, resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resolutely thwart the interference of external forces and ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist schemes.”
In an unusual move, Chinese state media posted on Twitter a map showing six areas around Taiwan where it said the PLA would conduct drills, including live-fire exercises from Thursday through Sunday, the media outlet reported.
Having landed in Taiwan amid soaring tensions with China’s military, the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, defended her controversial trip to the self-ruling island, saying she was making clear that American leaders “never give in to autocrats” in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, The Guardian reported.
“We cannot stand by as (China) proceeds to threaten Taiwan – and democracy itself,” said Pelosi’s piece, published just as the veteran California congresswoman’s plane touched down on Tuesday.
“Indeed, we take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
Given that Pelosi’s trip presents a serious diplomatic headache for the Joe Biden White House, there had been much speculation about the motivations behind the controversial visit. In her op-ed Pelosi struck a hard line against China’s position that her trip was a provocation and placed it in the context of a broader global struggle over political freedom.
In the article Pelosi said: “We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. As Russia wages its premeditated, illegal war against Ukraine, killing thousands of innocents – even children – it is essential that America and our allies make clear that we never give in to autocrats”, The Guardian reported.
China has branded a landmark visit to Taiwan by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi as “extremely dangerous”, BBC reported.
It accused Pelosi, the most senior US politician in 25 years to visit the island China claims as its own, of “playing with fire”.
“Those who play with fire will perish by it,” Beijing warned in a statement, BBC reported.
Pelosi said her visit “honours America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy” and did not contradict US policy.
As her plane touched down, Chinese state media reported that its military jets were crossing the Taiwan strait. Taiwan has denied any such action happened.
China – which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province which will one day reunite with it – has previously warned that its armed forces “will not stand idly by”.
In her statement, Pelosi said: “America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.”
In an article published in the Washington Post newspaper at the same time, Pelosi also wrote that Taiwan’s “robust democracy… is under threat”..
“In the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) accelerating aggression, our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom,” she said.
Hundreds of Taiwanese, as well as Tibetans, gathered at her hotel to welcome the 82-year-old lawmaker, a staunch critic of Beijing for long…reports Asian Lite News
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of a Congressional delegation issued a statement upon arrival in Taiwan on Tuesday.
The visit is the first official visit to Taiwan by a Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in 25 years.
“Our Congressional delegation’s visit to Taiwan honours America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy.
“Our visit is part of our broader trip to the Indo-Pacific including Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan focused on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance. Our discussions with Taiwan leadership will focus on reaffirming our support for our partner and on promoting our shared interests, including advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the statement said.
“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy.
Our visit reiterates that America stands with Taiwan: a robust, vibrant democracy and our important partner in the Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/2sSRJXN6ST
“Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan and it in no way contradicts the longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, US-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo,” it added.
Pelosi landed in Taiwan late on Tuesday for a visit to the self-governing island amid heightened threats from Chinese officials and multiple rounds of military drills by China’s People’s Liberation Army, RFA reported.
Pelosi, the most senior US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, flew into the Songshan airport near the capital Taipei at around 10:45 p.m. local time, after leading a Congressional delegation trip reaffirming the US commitment to Asian allies.
Our delegation’s visit to Taiwan honors America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant Democracy.
Our discussions with Taiwan leadership reaffirm our support for our partner & promote our shared interests, including advancing a free & open Indo-Pacific region.
Hundreds of Taiwanese, as well as Tibetans, gathered at her hotel to welcome the 82-year-old lawmaker, a staunch critic of Beijing for long.
In the run up to the trip, both China and Taiwan’s militaries were on high-alert in preparation for the visit. Chinese domestic air travel in Fuzhou, across the Taiwan strait from Taiwan, was disrupted on Tuesday, indicating that military flights may be taking place nearby.
Taiwanese civilians have been participating in air raid drills to prepare for a potential attack by China’s much larger military, RFA reported.
The United States does not recognise Taiwan diplomatically, but retains close unofficial ties with Taipei and is obligated by law to provide it with defence capabilities.
By traveling to Taiwan, we honor our commitment to democracy: reaffirming that the freedoms of Taiwan — and all democracies — must be respected.
Beijing considers the self-ruling, democratic island a breakaway province, to be united with the mainland by force if necessary, and objects strongly to high-level US visits.
“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy…reports Asian Lite News
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, despite stern warnings from Beijing, making her the highest-level US official to visit the island in 25 years.
Pelosi’s US Air Force-operated Boeing C-40C landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on Tuesday, marking the start of the third — and the most controversial — leg of her five-country Asia tour, dpa news agency reported.
Pelosi and her delegation of Democratic party lawmakers were met by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and Sandra Oudkirk, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which serves as Washington’s de facto embassy.
The trip has drawn outrage from Beijing, which views the self-governing island as a breakaway territory that will one day be reunited with the mainland.
Pelosi is the third-highest ranking official in the US government, behind President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
For days, she has declined to confirm news reports that she would visit the island and Taiwan was not on her official itinerary.
People around the world monitored the progress of her flight on Tuesday, watching on flight tracking websites as her plane made its way from Kuala Lumpur toward Taipei, dpa news agency reported.
The flight path avoided the contested South China Sea and was escorted by eight US Air Force fighter jets as well as Taiwan Air Force fighter aircraft.
Chinese SU-35 fighter jets flew into the narrow Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the mainland, shortly ahead of Pelosi’s arrival, Chinese state television reported.
Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.
Beijing had warned the United States that there would be a “very serious situation and consequences” if Pelosi visited.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told the press in Beijing on Monday that such a visit would be a “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs.”
“The Chinese side is comprehensively prepared for all eventualities.”
China’s leadership regards Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and rejects official contacts between its diplomatic partners and the government in Taipei.
Taiwan, which has 23 million inhabitants, has long considered itself independent.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened fears that China could annex the democratic island republic by force. Tensions over Taiwan have not been as high since the 1990s.
Pelosi’s delegation is expected to stay overnight in Taipei City`s Grand Hyatt Hotel, where protestors from the far-right and pro-China Alliance to Promote Chinese Unification had gathered. They were countered by the Taiwan State-Building Party, whose members held placards proclaiming “Democracies Strong Together”.
The capital city’s landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper, located near the five-star hotel, blazed “Welcome to Taiwan”.
Pelosi is expected to visit Taiwan’s Parliament on Wednesday and meet Yu Shyi-kun, the legislature’s leader, before holding talks with President Tsai Ing-wen.
Also on her schedule are meetings with Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese human rights activists. She is expected to depart for Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday evening.
Chairman Mark Liu warned about consequences for Beijing, Taipei, and the world in event of a cross-strait conflict…reports Asian Lite News
At a time of heightened cross-strait tensions, Taiwan’s chipmaking giant TSMC warned of serious consequences if China invades Taipei.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Chairman Mark Liu warned that the economies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will plunge into turmoil if China invade the island nation, reported Taiwan News.
Chairman Mark Liu warned about consequences for Beijing, Taipei, and the world in event of a cross-strait conflict.
CNN on Monday published footage of a video interview with Liu, titled “Can China afford to attack Taiwan?” in which Liu noted chipmaking will no longer be “the most important thing we should be worried about” if Beijing were to attack Taiwan.
Still, “Nobody can control TSMC by force,” Liu said, when asked about the company’s perceived reputation as a “shield” given its significance.
TSMC factories will be rendered “non-operable” in the event of a Chinese attack because the sophisticated manufacturing facilities depend on real-time connections with the outside world, with Europe, US, and Japan, he reckoned.
The chairman of the world’s largest contract chipmaker also urged Beijing to think twice before taking any action as China accounts for 10 per cent of TSMC’s business., reported Taiwan News.
Describing its consumer pool as important and vibrant, Liu said “They need us, and it’s not a bad thing.” This means any interruption of the supply chains will cause economic turmoil on either side, he stressed.
The lessons from the Russian invasion of Ukraine should be drawn upon, he said, adding the war has created a “lose-lose-lose” scenario for the Western world, Russia, and Ukraine, reported Taiwan News.
He implored all parties to think of ways to avoid war so that the “engine of the world economy can continue humming.”
The interview comes at a time of heightened cross-strait tensions, partly due to a potential visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that has riled Beijing.
After the United States invited South Korea to join its semiconductor alliance “Chip 4” to build a cooperative platform for the semiconductor supply chain, China’s worries are set to bloom as the main goal of the communist nation to reduce its dependence on other countries for chips is likely to get hampered while US-China tensions rise.
This move comes as a shock to China which has dreamt of becoming a leader in semiconductor production by 2030 and is working overtime to enhance its capabilities and production to leave the US behind, a US-based publication reported.
The US-led Chip 4 alliance includes South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
The Chip 4 alliance has left China worried as the move tends to curb Beijing’s growing capabilities as a chip maker.
According to the latest news reports, China is moving toward achieving more self-sufficiency in semiconductors which could eventually make some buyers reliant on China for many of the basic chips now in short supply. (ANI)
Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-chang expressed the belief by his government that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would have the ‘complete capability’ to attack Taiwan by 2025…reports Asian Lite News
Taiwan’s Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-chang expressed concern that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would have the ‘complete capability’ to attack Taiwan by 2025.
The Minister expressed concern while also highlighted sanctions as the means to deter aggression during a virtual seminar titled “Taiwan: is it key to the continuing world order?” organised by The Democracy Forum (TDF), a non-profit organisation, against the backdrop of rising tension and intimidation in the Taiwan Strait.
Moderator Humphrey Hawksley, a former BBC Asia Correspondent, called the future of Taiwan ‘perhaps the most pivotal international issue of our time’, before opening the floor to TDF President Lord Bruce.
Taiwan Defence Minister said Taiwan’s global significance in terms of trade, technological innovation and democratic values, its complex relationship with China, and the fallout, both regional and global, of a potential Chinese invasion, were among points for discussion at The Democracy Forum’s July 26 virtual seminar, titled ‘Taiwan: is it key to the continuing world order?’
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin meets with his Chinese counterpart Gen. Wei Fenghe during the annual Shangri-La Dialogue
Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-chang, who was also part of the seminar, had expressed the belief by his government that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would have the ‘complete capability’ to attack Taiwan by 2025, making the current situation ‘the most dangerous’ the minister had seen in more than 40 years in the military.
Taiwan’s global significance in terms of trade, technological innovation and democratic values, its complex relationship with China, and the fallout, both regional and global, of a potential Chinese invasion, were among the main points for discussion at the seminar.
TDF President Lord Bruce cited the former head of US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral (Retired) Phil Davidson’s assessment that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would ‘manifest in the next six years’.
However, in referring to a recent Japanese government white paper on defence spending that warned of escalating national security threats, ‘including… China’s intimidation of Taiwan, and vulnerable technology supply chains’, Lord Bruce also quoted China’s response, in which Wang Web in, a foreign affairs spokesman, urged the Japanese government to ‘immediately stop the erroneous practice of exaggerating security threats in its neighbourhood and finding excuses for its own strong military arsenal’.
With Taiwan currently dominating the global market for semiconductor manufacturing, particularly the most advanced chips, Lord Bruce noted that, although the threat of military escalation is considered marginal by specialist risk managers, the prospect of sanctions imposed as an economic weapon to deter aggression is considered much more likely.
In either scenario, a concerted plan to reduce the vulnerability of western trade and manufacturing is already underway in the US and EU, he added. But, despite the inevitable ‘bellicose rhetoric’ that seems currently to dominate the language of diplomacy, Lord Bruce concluded by citing the longer view of China analyst Charles Parton: that, in spite of the posturing by the CCP on the fate of Taiwan, ‘war or forceful unification will not happen in the foreseeable future’, as the risk – and costs – of failure are simply too great for the CCP realistically to countenance.
Syaru Shirley Lin, Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, and Chair of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI), highlighted the importance of Taiwan’s democratic governance as an alternative for countries which have a strong economic relationship with China, especially in the Asia Pacific,
She further argued that Taiwan matters to the world, not only because it produces the most advanced semiconductors but also because it can be a leader in innovative public policy. As the world’s only Chinese democracy, Taiwan’s achievements in promoting economic development and safeguarding public health through democratic governance can show the path forward for other developing societies in the Asia Pacific.
U.S. guided-missile destroyer in S. Korea after Taiwan Strait transit (YONHAP_IANS)
However, despite its many successes, Taiwan also faces many complex internal threats, as well as external ones from China. Lin spoke of Taiwan’s isolation in the world, and of the ‘five Ps’ – population decline, power generation, political polarisation, parochialism and the pandemic. These issues are at the forefront of people’s minds in Taiwan, even more than the threat of armed conflict with China. The urgent socioeconomic, environmental, and political challenges that Taiwan and other high-income societies in the Asia-Pacific are facing will require innovative and interdisciplinary thinking to solve. In recognition of this, Lin and her colleagues founded CAPRI in Taipei, a non-partisan, independent think tank that recognises the role Taiwan can play in developing solutions and sharing best practices for addressing these problems, past, present, and future.
In answer to the central question posed by the seminar, Dr James Lee, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, gave a resounding ‘yes’. This is because the threat that Taiwan faces raises the question of whether or not the international order is able to resist attempts to annex territory by authoritarian great power, and if China were successful in annexing Taiwan, it would threaten a fundamental pillar of the post-World War II international order. Since many countries that have a One China policy do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, China wants us to think that this means we have to recognise Taiwan as part of China.
But there is a third path, said Dr Lee, which is that taken by the US, the EU, the UK and others: they do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, nor do they recognise Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. Dr Lee addressed the history of the dispute surrounding this intermediate legal status of Taiwan – including how China’s claim to Taiwan is based on highly contested arguments about what happened after WWII- focusing on the different positions adopted by the US, China, and Taiwan itself.
Digitalisation and Taiwan’s democracy were focal points forChun-Yi Lee, Associate Professor and Director of the Taiwan Studies Program at the University of Nottingham. Underscoring Taiwan’s importance in trade and in the ‘electronic world order’, she considered how, despite tensions, the China-Taiwan trade connection is still very strong and integrated but, in terms of production, Taiwan is ‘high end’, bringing tech skills and research, while China is ‘low end’, contributing unskilled capital such as factory workers.
She addressed the ‘hardware of digitalisation’ – that is, the importance of Taiwan’s TSMC – to the semiconductor global value chain, as well as the ‘software of digitalisation’, Taiwan’s digital democracy, including reference to the 2014 ‘Sunflower movement’, a protest by civic hackers that demanded more open government, with policy and information made simpler for ordinary people to understand.
Dr Chun-yi discussed, too, how Taiwan had built a ‘digital fence’ during COVID, which is not on the basis of state power censoring civic society, as has been seen in China. Rather, Taiwan is to invite civic engineers or ‘hackers’ to work with the government, creating digital means to combat the global pandemic.
Dr Simona Grano, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zurich and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at UZH, considered key shifts that have led to changing attitudes toward Taiwan in Europe -most notably, the Covid pandemic; China’s increasing attempts to marginalise Taiwan economically and internationally; and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
She touched on mistrust of China engendered by the pandemic, Taiwan’s importance in global supply chains, the impact the invasion has had on small states within the EU and the greater importance they subsequently attach to having like-minded partners. This includes Taiwan, which, beyond economic ties, shares many values with the West: a system of governance based on democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, a market economy, etc.
Dr Grano also focused more specifically on changes in attitudes towards Taiwan in Italy and Switzerland – her homeland and adopted country respectively – which are not, she argued, happening in a vacuum but at a European level. In the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine and the ideologically charged debate on democracy versus autocracy, Taiwan shows that Chinese values are not incompatible with Western values. It is important, therefore, Grano concluded, to communicate to China that the West will not stand idly by while Beijing attempts to change the status quo.
Also bringing in the Taiwan-Ukraine parallel was Dr Raymond Kuo, a Political Scientist at the Rand Corporation. Would an invasion of Taiwan by China inspire the same reaction as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he wondered, even though it is not officially recognised by most countries? Kuo said there is widespread recognition that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would still be a violation of sovereignty, as there are other types of sovereignty than territorial.
He argued that Taiwan has the added advantage of being a much larger economy than Ukraine, more integrated into global trade flows, and integral to East and Southeast Asian security planning. Also, as China has already shown a reluctance to abide by international constraints- for example, it is engaged in coercion with India – other Asian countries view Taiwan as a litmus test to see if China will abide by international laws.
Looking back in time, as well as forward, Shelly Rigger, Professor of Political Science at Davidson College, focused on the historical angle vis-a-vis Taiwan, especially the link between its identity and democratisation, and its relationships with the PRC and the US. She also spoke of how the PRC, as well as Chinese nationalism from both within Taiwan and across the Taiwan Strait, have become obstacles to Taiwan’s identity and self-actualisation, and an enemy of democracy.
In summing up the event, TDF Chair Barry Gardiner MP praised the panellists for their insights, though he expressed surprise that the issue of Hong Kong had not come up in the discussion. It is difficult to see how any military invasion of Taiwan could be successful, he reflected – after all, Ukraine fought back fiercely, despite having a greater and more recent entanglement with Russia. So, if a union between China and Taiwan doesn’t come voluntarily, he concluded, it is unlikely it can come at all. (ANI)
Asked about planned military steps to protect Pelosi in the event of a visit, US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that discussion of any specific travel is premature..reports Asian Lite News
US officials say they have little fear that China would attack Nancy Pelosi’s plane if she flies to Taiwan. But the US House speaker would be entering one of the world’s hottest spots where a mishap, misstep or misunderstanding could endanger her safety. So the Pentagon is developing plans for any contingency.
Officials told The Associated Press that if Pelosi goes to Taiwan — still an uncertainty — the military would increase its movement of forces and assets in the Indo-Pacific region. They declined to provide details, but said that fighter jets, ships, surveillance assets and other military systems would likely be used to provide overlapping rings of protection for her flight to Taiwan and any time on the ground there.
Any foreign travel by a senior US leader requires additional security. But officials said this week that a visit to Taiwan by Pelosi — she would be the highest-ranking US elected official to visit Taiwan since 1997 — would go beyond the usual safety precautions for trips to less risky destinations.
Asked about planned military steps to protect Pelosi in the event of a visit, US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that discussion of any specific travel is premature. But, he added, “if there’s a decision made that Speaker Pelosi or anyone else is going to travel and they asked for military support, we will do what is necessary to ensure a safe conduct of their visit. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
China considers self-ruling Taiwan its own territory and has raised the prospect of annexing it by force. The US maintains informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan even as it recognizes Beijing as the government of China.
The trip is being considered at a time when China has escalated what the US and its allies in the Pacific describe as risky one-on-one confrontations with other militaries to assert its sweeping territorial claims. The incidents have included dangerously close fly-bys that force other pilots to swerve to avoid collisions, or harassment or obstruction of air and ship crews, including with blinding lasers or water cannon.
Dozens of such maneuvers have occurred this year alone, Ely Ratner, US assistant defense secretary, said Tuesday at a South China Sea forum by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China denies the incidents.
The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, described the need to create buffer zones around the speaker and her plane. The US already has substantial forces spread across the region, so any increased security could largely be handled by assets already in place.
The military would also have to be prepared for any incident — even an accident either in the air or on the ground. They said the US would need to have rescue capabilities nearby and suggested that could include helicopters on ships already in the area.
Pelosi, D-Calif., has not publicly confirmed any new plans for a trip to Taiwan. She was going to go in April, but she postponed the trip after testing positive for COVID-19.
The White House on Monday declined to weigh in directly on the matter, noting she had not confirmed the trip. But President Joe Biden last week raised concerns about it, telling reporters that the military thinks her trip is “not a good idea right now.”
A Pelosi trip may well loom over a call planned for Thursday between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, their first conversation in four months. A US official confirmed plans for the call to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.
US officials have said the administration doubts that China would take direct action against Pelosi herself or try to sabotage the visit. But they don’t rule out the possibility that China could escalate provocative overflights of military aircraft in or near Taiwanese airspace and naval patrols in the Taiwan Strait should the trip take place. And they don’t preclude Chinese actions elsewhere in the region as a show of strength.
Security analysts were divided Tuesday about the extent of any threat during a trip and the need for any additional military protection.
The biggest risk during Pelosi’s trip is of some Chinese show of force “gone awry, or some type of accident that comes out of a demonstration of provocative action,” said Mark Cozad, acting associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corp. “So it could be an air collision. It could be some sort of missile test, and, again, when you’re doing those types of things, you know, there is always the possibility that something could go wrong.”
Barry Pavel, director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, scoffed at US officials’ reported consideration of aircraft carriers and warplanes to secure the speaker’s safety. “Obviously, the White House does not want the speaker to go and I think that’s why you’re getting some of these suggestions.”
“She’s not going to go with an armada,” Pavel said.
They also said that a stepped-up US military presence to safeguard Pelosi risked raising tensions.
“It is very possible that … our attempts to deter actually send a much different signal than the one we intend to send,” Cozad said. “And so you get into … some sort of an escalatory spiral, where our attempts to deter are actually seen as increasingly provocative and vice versa. And that can be a very dangerous dynamic.”
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing had repeatedly expressed its “solemn position” over a potential Pelosi visit. He told reporters that China is prepared to “take firm and strong measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Milley said this week that the number of intercepts by Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific region with US and other partner forces has increased significantly over the past five years. He said Beijing’s military has become far more aggressive and dangerous, and that the number of unsafe interactions has risen by similar proportions.
Those include reports of Chinese fighter jets flying so close to a Canadian air security patrol last month that the Canadian pilot had to swerve to avoid collision, and another close call with an Australian surveillance flight in late May in which the Chinese crew released a flurry of metal scraps that were sucked into the other plane’s engine.
US officials say that the prospects of an intercept or show of force by Chinese aircraft near Pelosi’s flight raises concerns, prompting the need for American aircraft and other assets to be nearby.
The US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group is currently operating in the western Pacific, and made a port call in Singapore over the weekend. The strike group involves at least two other Navy ships and Carrier Air Wing 5, which includes F/A-18 fighter jets, helicopters and surveillance aircraft.
Prior to pulling into port in Singapore, the strike group was operating in the South China Sea. In addition, another Navy ship, the USS Benfold, a destroyer, has been conducting freedom of navigation operations in the region, including a passage through the Taiwan Strait last week.
Takeover of Taiwan by the PRC would upend the security of the Indo-Pacific, writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat
It remains to be seen whether Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, will continue in that office once the two-year term of the present batch of legislators ends. The decision may not necessarily be hers to take, in that she would have to make way for a new Speaker of the House, were the Republican party to wrest the majority from the Democrats.
The inflationary and recessionary trends caused by the Biden-Johnson sanctions on Russia as a consequence of its war on Ukraine have made the current US President unpopular. Instead of rewarding lower income voters, who backed him in large numbers during the Presidential poll, Biden is showering money on Ukraine. In the process, he is delighting weapons manufacturers not just in the United States but worldwide.
Not to mention the oil industry, which is reaping the benefit of a huge spurt in oil and gas prices as a consequence of US-led sanctions on Russia that have been added on to those imposed on major oil producers such as Venezuela and Iran. Thanks to such policies by the US and some of its allies, the cost of oil is far above what it needs to be to ensure global economic health. Countries in Asia are starting to be worried about the quality of leadership exhibited within NATO.
Such worthies are coming up with Alice in Wonderland plans such as enforcing a price cap on Russian, but not on US or UK, oil. The manner in which the Atlantic Alliance has reacted to the war in Ukraine appears to have dealt a death blow to any hopes of recovering its primacy within the international system. At the same time, NATO has proved unable to prevent the dismemberment and destruction of Ukraine. In the fantasy world that the present occupants of the White House and Number 10 Downing Street live in, their performance during the Ukraine war is taken as a deterrent to China’s attempting a takeover by force of Taiwan.
Given the economic pain to NATO member states that its own sanctions on Russia are causing, the thinking within the Central Military Commission (CMC) in Beijing is veering around to the view that (after being mauled by their own sanctions on Russia) there is likely to be zero appetite within NATO to impose similar sanctions on China. After all, the other superpower is a country that is many times more closely linked in commerce with the Atlantic Alliance than Russia. In Ukraine, there has since 2014 been an indoctrination designed to create Russophobic mindsets in those elements of the public that do not speak Russian as the mother tongue.
Military vehicles of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army arrive in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 14, 2021. (Photo by Yu Xiaoping_Xinhua)
Yet even within convinced Russophobes, hopes for the entry on Ukraine’s side of NATO during the war with Russia have faded. Instead, fatigue has set in as a consequence of the damage that the country has suffered by continuing its senseless war rather than working out a peace settlement with Moscow.
Neither President Biden nor Boris Johnson appears to be concerned about the fact that the longer the war continues, the harsher will be the peace terms insisted on by President Putin as a condition to stop the fighting. Should Liz Truss be the next PM, the Cowboys and Injuns approach of Boris Johnson to the Ukraine conflict is likely to continue, to the detriment of the UK. Public opinion within NATO is not what it was during the intoxicating days in the initial weeks of the conflict, when it was accepted wisdom that (a) Russia would soon be forced to withdraw, and (b) Putin would be ousted from the Kremlin.
Instead, the Russian leader is moving towards fulfillment of his stated aim of ensuring that Ukraine never again becomes a threat to Russia, something that even the embedded media in NATO countries is no longer able to cover up. Given the rapid decline within the broader public within NATO of the earlier appetite for continuing the war with Russia over Ukraine, the Central Military Commission (CMC) in Beijing is developing the conviction that citizens in Taiwan would not follow the Ukrainian example and themselves take up arms to throw out invaders from the PRC.
As for intervention by the US, according to President Biden, his generals in Washington are terrified even by the prospect of Speaker Pelosi visiting Taiwan. Given the rising unpopularity of Xi as a consequence of the mismanagement of the economy, diplomacy and handling the pandemic, pressure on him to follow the example of Putin and attack Taiwan is mounting. Of course, the Russia-obsessed fantasists in the White House believe the contrary is true, just as they believed that Russia would be easy prey for a Ukraine boosted by NATO firepower. A Commander-in-Chief, who walked away even from confronting a ragtag force such as the Taliban, does not inspire confidence as an ally.
It is in the context of declining confidence in the value of a security partnership with the US led by Joe Biden that a probable visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ought to be seen. Mike Pompeo showed the courage to brave the wrath of not just the CCP leadership but the well-resourced PRC lobby in the US to visit Taiwan. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper is following in his wake, as will perhaps Mike Pence later. Pompeo met with that country’s leaders as a former Secretary of State. There is a world of difference between Speaker Pelosi going to Taiwan as distinct from a later visit by ex-Speaker Pelosi.
Speaker Pelosi
The US Speaker is showing spine, which is more than can be said for the leader of her party and the nation, President Biden. Neither he nor the current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are known for the firmness on matters relating to China of Shinzo Abe. The death of the latter has removed from the highest councils of Japan a voice that would have been steadfast in calling for steps to repel any military invasion by China across the Taiwan Straits. The reason being given by the assassin seems to be a cover story, given that there are dozens of politicians in Japan who are far closer than Abe ever was to the religious group identified by the killer as being the trigger for his act.
Abe’s killer is a traitor to Japan and not just a murderer, and a comprehensive investigation into the ecosystem he drew sustenance and inspiration from is essential rather than a cover-up of the truth as took place in the “enquiry” by President Biden’s commission to investigate the origins of Covid-19.
Takeover of Taiwan by the PRC would upend the security of the Indo-Pacific, and severely compromise that of not just Japan and South Korea but of all democracies in the Indo-Pacific immediately. The world would move closer to a situation where the PRC is dominant. Should General Secretary Xi believe that the consequences for his country would be temporary and bearable, he would be inclined to allow the PLA to fulfill its longstanding goal of attempting a takeover by force of a tech superpower.
Taiwan is to East Asia what Israel is to West Asia. By braving the ire of the White House (and, if Biden is to be believed, the Pentagon) and going ahead with her visit to Taiwan, Speaker Pelosi would show the world that she understands the importance of the country at the centre-point of the global tech industry with a resoluteness yet to be demonstrated by President Joe Biden.
